


Stuck in the middle with you

by braidedbootstraps



Category: The 100 (TV), clexa - Fandom
Genre: ..right?, Clexa, F/F, Femslash, One Shot, bh but hey cool fic out of it right, for real real though this kind of happened to me, so this is a warm up of sorts, which...wasn't fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 13:42:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15973490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/braidedbootstraps/pseuds/braidedbootstraps
Summary: A college AU one-shot: Clarke gets stuck in a revolving door for a few hours when the power cuts out in the library… with the last person she expected to meet. (Based on a real thing that happened to me two weeks ago, except without Alycia Debnam Carey to keep me company..)





	Stuck in the middle with you

_‘Students are advised that the library help desk will close in ten minutes. Facilities will remain open throughout the night, however,_ ID _will be needed to enter and leave the library from nine. Have a pleasant evening.’_

 

The intercom dinged and Clarke leaned back in her chair, breathing a slow sigh. She’d been in the library for the past three hours, researching for her presentation next week. A dull ache had started in her stomach and she rubbed the back of her head slowly... She supposed she’d got a cramp from sitting at the desk for so long. The books in front of her sat open, silently admonishing. Studying had gotten to the point where words didn’t look like words anymore.

 

Her support tutor, Raven, had said something to her last week about needing to take better care of herself. It was an intensive course. There were only so many hours in the day, and few of them could be spent drawing, or going for a run… Her stomach growled again. Right now, she needed to eat something. Which meant giving up, for now, and going home.

 

Her legs ached a little as she got up but she still made the effort to get all the books she’d borrowed together and returning them to the placement shelf before leaving. There weren’t all that many people in the hall, or around the shelves of books. An empty hush had come over the research floor at this time of day; mostly everyone had gone home.

 

Not many people had made it to campus today; a brutal northern storm had crested the woods surrounding Elmar College. The air was frozen, and the hale relentless. For now, at least, there was silence. The sun had long since dipped beneath the skyline and stars were beginning to make a hesitant appearance in the library windows.

 

Clarke hadn’t had much choice but to be here. She checked her phone again as she reached the lobby. Still no news from Bellamy, her supposed presentation partner. For a boy determined to outgrade her in international relations, Bellamy could be ridiculously hard to work with. Especially when it involved trying to delegate group work. Shoving her phone as far into her pocket as it would go Clarke clenched her jaw and braced herself for the rush of cold air that would great her once she exited the main doors.

 

The revolving door jerked into life as she approached it, and she took a larger step forward than she meant to. There was a light but unignorable step behind her, and someone else stepped into the same segment of the door with her as it turned. Clarke never thought to turn around.

 

A sudden snap and flash of lights. The door shuddered and Clarke froze as it ground to a halt, leaving only an inch of space between her and the outside. Inside the library, the lights in the lobby had switched off. Clarke spun wildly around, and almost toppled into the woman that was barely an inch away from her nose. “..Ur… Sorry.”

 

She stepped back and slammed into the glass behind her. Grabbing for the side panel someone caught her arm instead. Clarke found herself looking into eyes much darker than her own, yet somehow brighter. “Careful.” The woman smiled and shrugged her shoulder bag onto the floor, out of the way of her feet. Clarke wondered if she wasn’t just stunned… or if the woman was really as attractive as she thought.

 

* * *

 

The glass shook slightly as her fist banged on it. “Hello?” Clarke called, banging more loudly. “...anybody?”

 

The first rush of uncertainty had left her with an adrenaline kick she could do infuriatingly little about. Meanwhile, Lexa Woods, as her security tab declared her to be, was inspecting the mechanism at the top of the door. Clarke could see her reflection in the door from where she stood... She’d abandoned her jacket, somewhat testily, so that she could reach up against the doors full height. Her blue shirt was fitted…

 

“So you..um” Clarke cleared her throat. She rested her palm flat against the door instead. The knuckles looked red. “Are you having any luck?”

 

“Its motorized” Lexa jumped back from where she’d been standing on both their bags. “And unsurprisingly, secure. There’s nothing I can do with that without tools.” She peered around Clarke into the deserted reception.

 

“Nothing so far” Clarke crossed her arms as she turned back. The since the lights had cut, no sign of life had appeared. The front desk remained exactly as it had been, just visible within the dark. The security card gates were locked, one closed, the other stuck mid-turn. Something about it made Clarke almost feel glad they were kept back by the glass.

 

The segment of the door they were stuck in at its widest point was close to a meter wide, bags and jackets on the ground… there wasn’t much breathing room. Clarke grabbed her jacket back off the floor as she thought this. The door was stuck in such a position against the curved wall they couldn’t go back into the library, but they couldn’t leave. All they had was a sliver from the outside, perhaps an inch across. ‘Useless, and it lets in a draft’ Clarke thought bitterly. Although, she’d admit they at least had air.

 

“It’s cold…” she muttered as she shrugged her jacket back on. “I don’t think anybody’s here.”

 

“And it’s going to get colder.” Lexa had been rummaging through her bag and produced a phone and fuzzy grey scarf.

 

Clakes heart leaped at the sight of the phone. “You’ve got the number for campus security?”

 

Lexa nodded. She was trying to pull the scarf around her shoulders whilst dialing. Her long hair caught it as she pulled it around her neck and she glanced over her shoulder. Clarke noticed how her frown created a dimple between her brows. She smiled a little and put out a hand. “Want me to get that?”

 

The way Lexa glanced up… it was a look that said resentment, or disbelief or first. But, if you paid attention, her mouth opened a little. Her eyes were bright and wide… “Urm…” that crease again, between the brows. Clarke was about to retract her offer before Lexa mumbled “all right…”

 

She gave the scarf over to Clarke's open hand. Clarke felt a coiling in her stomach. Part of her argued that she never should have asked, never presumed to help. The other part was the same part that got her up at five and had her working the library at each assignment for hours, sometimes well into the night. It was the part that took initiative.

 

Carefully, so carefully she hardly breathed, she unfolded the scarf. It was dark grey and felt as soft as if it was new. She crouched a little and put it around Lexa’s shoulders. It could have been her imagination, but she’d have sworn she felt a little of Lexa’s tension ease under her hand.

 

She guessed that made sense… if you were scared senseless another human’s touch could be the first thing you need. But, Lexa hadn’t seemed scared… Clarke scanned her face. With her phone pressed to her cheek, Lexa looked focused. But, there was a glaze over her eyes, and her mouth was a thin line.

 

Clarke hesitated a second with her hand still over Lexa's shoulder. Then, she let the same hand slip under Lexas hair and pull it back, over the top of the scarf. Lexa seemed to freeze; Clarke's hand snapped back instinctively.

 

“Sorry…” she mumbled quickly, but Lexa had already turned around. Her eyes weren't angry, only dark and a little damp. The shadows beneath them only made the whites of her eyes brighter. It was hard to look away.

 

Clarke heard the phone click over to voicemail, and Lexa's hand drifted back into her lap.

 

“Guess they're closed for the night, huh” Clarke peered around Lexa’s shoulder. A change had seemed to come over Lexa. Her head was bowed, her dark hair slipped over her shoulder. “H...hey” Clarke put out a hand to touch Lexa’s arm.

 

Lexa’s head snapped up at the touch, and for the second time that night Clarke jerked her hand back. “I’m fine.” Lexa’s tone seemed wooden. Clarke wondered if this time she really had overstepped. That didn’t stop the words from leaving her lips.

 

“We’re going to figure this out.” Lexa gaze was impossible, but Clarke could feel the warmth in her breath, just touching her face from where they sat. Lexa’s breathing was shallow. It was possible... “If.. the lack of space is starting to get to you..”

 

“It’s not” Lexa cut across. As if to prove a point, she sat down more firmly next to her, letting her thigh rest against Clarke’s. “If we’re stuck here... Then its fine. I’m fine.”

 

“Got it.” Clarke couldn’t keep the corners of her mouth from twitching upwards. “Well.. do you think you’ll be able to sleep?”

 

“Its possible” Lexa huffed, snuggling closer into her scarf. Her shoulders had relaxed again. Clarke mused she was better at this sort of thing that she thought... But, then again the woman next to her was difficult to read.

 

She flinched when she turned to find Lexa’s murky eyes staring straight into her own. Suddenly, her pulse picked up. “W..what?”

 

“Thank you,” Lexa said quietly. The muscles in her face were drawn as if she were resisting the pull of the words. “..you’ve been understanding”

 

“It's uh... No problem at all” Clarke leaned over, facing Lexa properly. They were leaned in closer now, both Clarke and Lexa’s legs curled in, towards each other. Clarke wondered why she noticed and blinked uncertainly. It was warmer, this way...

 

“Well I’m Glad” Lexa raised an eyebrow. The look on her face could almost be called a smirk “..to be stuck here with you.”

 

Clarke drew her arms in closer, loosening her shoulders without quite meaning to. “..yeah. Me too.”

 

* * *

 

The light slowly broke through the frosted glass. Clarke woke shivering and stiff and rolled her shoulders back well as she could. She’d expected to feel more miserable than this, though she knew the ache in her neck wouldn’t be going away for a while.

 

Then she turned. Then, she remembered. Lexa was slumped against the glass, her legs curled under her protectively. The grey scarf was, at last, tied around them both. Lexa’s head lay in the softest crook of Clarke's shoulder where it had fallen.

 

Her breath was still as warm as the night before, and this time pressed close to Clarke’s pulse, just beneath her ear. Clarke smiled a little and watched a small sparrow hop diligently across the first-morning frost outside.

 

She closed her eyes and leaned back into the folds of the scarf. Someone would come to get them soon. “Anyway” she whispered. Lexa’s head turned a little into the sunlight. Clarke let her forehead rest against it. “I’d like a little more time than I thought.. stuck in the middle with you.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is an apology one-shot for disappearing for a short forever. I got really sick, college got it the way, etc. ... I am really fond of this one though, the first draft's been a long time coming


End file.
